Welding Tips and Tricks

Hi all,

I wonder if anyone could assist me in this... I need to weld 2 different thickness materials as shown in the image below:



The red material is 1.2mm mild steel. The green material is .8mm mild steel.
The blue spot is where i need to weld..

Can someone please help me and explain how one goes about achieving this?
I tried a few test pieces, however i just kept blowing holes in the .8mm mild steel.

What sort of amperage should i be using? Tungsten size?
I am using a Miller Diversion 180 and new to welding. Im unable to use a foot control because of the loss of my legs

Thanks in advance...

B

Bosco,
I feel you on the leg loss, my son just lost his left leg in an accident.

As to your question, what amperage would depend somewhat on the size of the filler rod, but I would start with 1/16 tungsten and around 60-70 amps on DCEN with your tunsten sharpened to a sharp point. Every machine is a little different on their amp setting (+/-). I'm not real familiar with your machine but if you have a 2T setting and a switch on the torch I would try using it to ramp up to that setting.

There are a lot of guys here who use that machine so maybe one or two of them will chime in here.

Len

There really isn't a huge difference in the thicknesses you're working with so it won't be too difficult. I don't believe using a 1/16 tungsten over a 3/32 is going to be of great benefit. The main thing you need to do is focus your are on the thicker material and push the puddle over to the thinner material. How far you push into it will take a bit of practice but not too much. Also dipping the filler robs heat from the puddle. If you time it right you can use that to an advantage. As you push that puddle to the thinner material dip the rod to keep things a bit more in control.
I don't own a foot pedal yet cause of the price for the one I need for my machine. I've used the tactics above for a lap joint of .030 to 1 inch succesfully.
70 amp is also too high. You will want to be around 45 for 1.2mm material.

Hey, welcome to the forum.

As a foot pedal is out of the question, there are many tig torches that have the amperage controller built into the handle, they can be sliders, ball, (like a mouse ball) or rotary operated to name a few.

weldin mike 27 wrote:Hey, welcome to the forum.

As a foot pedal is out of the question, there are many tig torches that have the amperage controller built into the handle, they can be sliders, ball, (like a mouse ball) or rotary operated to name a few.

Hi Weldin Mike,

Yes my torch has this function, It was the main reason for me purchasing the Diversion 180.
What is the technique that I would use with the amperage controller on the handle?

Thanks all for your replies so far

B

It depends if you can control the whole range of machine amps from the torch or just a selection. I believe the diversion is a basic model, so it will be a simple control.

A way to get a start will be to work out how many amps rotating the control gives you. light up on a low setting then when you rotated on revolution, you know you'll be at .......amps. The settings are not as important as seat time and learning to read the puddle. ( I personally cant talk to much as we dont use amptrol devices) Get a rough idea of the amps to turns ratio and melt some stuff, it will come together with time.

weldin mike 27 wrote:It depends if you can control the whole range of machine amps from the torch or just a selection. I believe the diversion is a basic model, so it will be a simple control.

A way to get a start will be to work out how many amps rotating the control gives you. light up on a low setting then when you rotated on revolution, you know you'll be at .......amps. The settings are not as important as seat time and learning to read the puddle. ( I personally cant talk to much as we dont use amptrol devices) Get a rough idea of the amps to turns ratio and melt some stuff, it will come together with time.

This is some good advice, I don't have a lot to add as I've never used a hand amptrol either. You will find the balance as you get hood time. When doing different thicknesses, focus more on the thicker material, though these are pretty close so shouldn't be a large obstacle.

Thanks for the help guys, I *think* i got it right now... will post up a pic so people can give me some tips on whether im doing it right

B

This is the lap joint... thinest material on top..

I *think* i've got the hang of it, I tried the corner joint but having major trouble with it... im currently doing it on test pieces of metal horizontally but the actual piece i have to do is vertical which is gonna make it even harder